The Presents of the Wisemen
by Kamui Archetype
Summary: A one-shot LH Christmas fic! The uneventful chronicle of two foolish children, the wisest of all who give gifts. Based off of. . .well, read the story and find out!


The Presents of the Wisemen

A Love Hina fanfic by Kamui Archetype.

Disclaimer's at the bottom, folks.

This fic occurs after the last chapter of LH, but before the Epilogue and wedding.

_'These'_ are thoughts

»These« are in English

Thanks to petran for proofreading

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Narusegawa Naru looked incredulously at her best friend. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Sorry, but no." Konno Mitsune, more commonly known to her friends as "Kitsune," made a mock pout at her friend. "After all that time I wasted helping you search for this, you're just brushing aside all my work?"

"No, but. . . "

"So just go for it!"

"No! I'm not going to do it! I'm quite proud that I've had it for this long! Besides, who knows what they'll do? They might even be perverts that get off on that sort of thing!!! And what if it's a scam?!?"

"Oh, relax Naru! I even checked it out for you! They're totally legit. And besides, that thing you wanted to get Keitaro was a bit more than you had, right?"

Naru paused. Kitsune was right. _'It was hard enough finding that chain, and I'm just short of the price. But doing this. . .'_

The "chain" that was the center of the young Toudai student's dilemma was for a pocket watch that Keitaro had received from a friend of his in the US. The watch was one of two gifts that the Keitaro's friend had sent to him to commemorate one of the discoveries that the two, along with Seta Noriyasu, had made. The only resident male in Hinata-sou was rather proud of the watch, not only because of its beauty and expense, but also because it was a reminder of the good things that had happened during his study in the States.

Unfortunately, Keitaro had lost the original chain when the dorm's resident turtle, Tama-chan, and Kanako's pet cat Kuro had decided to play with the watch upon discovering it in the young manager's room. Keitaro had forgotten to take it with him that day, much to his misfortune and to Tama-chan and Kuro's delight.

_'Ugh, that was such a pain, chasing after those two. I can't believe Kuro and Tama-chan knew their way around the secret passageway in this place!' _Naru thought as she reminisced about the incident. Unfortunately, during the chase the watch's chain (which could easily be attached or detached by the watch's owner) had broken off and was lost somewhere in the Hinata-sou's now infamous secret passages. A search for the chain had been futile. Afterwards, Keitaro had taken to carrying the watch at ALL times.

_'Even though Keitaro forgave those two and told us it wasn't something to worry about, that big idiot's still sighing about it whenever he looks at that watch. I guess that dig must have been a really big event for him.'_ Naru, not knowing how expensive the watch had been, had decided to see if she could buy a replacement chain, which led to her current predicament of a lack of funds to purchase the watch.

"Yo, earth to Naru! You still with us?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry, Kitsune. I'm still considering it."

"What's to consider? There aren't any more part-time jobs around here that you could take to make the money, since it took a long time for you to find that watch chain."

"But it's still weird!" Naru's face then turned sad. "And Keitaro might not like how I am after this."

"Oh that's a bunch of BS. You know that guy won't mind. Besides, he'll understand right? You're doing it for him."

"Maybe I should keep looking for a job here. Are you sure there aren't any more?"

"Nope, I've checked them all out." Kitsune slammed the want ads, which had one advertisement circled, on top of the table. "This place," Kitsune stated, pointing to the ad, "isn't exactly near the city, but it's not too far. And it's your only hope if you absolutely want to get him that. So come on girl, drop your pride! It's time to lose that thing! Unless you have something else in mind?"

"No, I don't." Naru sighed. Getting her beloved Keitaro something else left a taste as bitter as myrrh in her mouth. "I really don't have a choice, do I?"

Kitsune smiled mischievously. "Nope."

"All right, all right. Give me the paper."

-o-o-o-

Urashima Keitaro, Toudai student and manager of the Hinata-sou, began to wearily walking up the stairs of the dorm. He had just come back from getting Naru's present and made it back to the dorm just in time for the annual Christmas Eve party. After partying for a bit, Naru had come up to him and asked Keitaro to meet up with her on the deck. Keitaro had nodded in agreement, though he was a bit surprised.

Shinobu had noticed Keitaro going up the stairs. "Sempai, where are you going? The party's not yet over."

Keitaro smiled back at them. "Ah, I'm just going up for some air. Don't worry, I'll be back."

Kanako, who had stopped by to see her brother for the holidays, looked over from where she was rearranging some of the presents Kuro had accidentally knocked down. "Please don't take too long, onii-san. It's snowing outside."

"No problems! I've got my jacket on, after all.." He continued trudging up the stairs and to his destination, the rooftop deck of the former inn

_'She's been avoiding me this entire week. I thought Narusegawa was mad at me, but every time I tried to catch her, she always would just run around trying to lose me instead of hitting me away. Plus she was always dressed in _THAT. _Even during the party she still had it on. __What could she be hiding?' _If he had been the same person he was several years earlier, he would have followed Naru like he did when she was teaching the review class. However, their relationship had progressed to the point where he greatly trusted his girlfriend.

_'I mean, it's not like she's doing weird stuff like. . .NO!'_ He beat down that thought. _'That's just stupid. I'll just ask her tonight.'_

As he stepped onto the deck, Keitaro paused for a moment to look at his girlfriend staring out over the city. She was still wearing THAT. He decided to ignore it and hug Naru from behind.

"Merry Christmas, Narusegawa," Keitaro whispered into her ear. The scent of the perfume Naru wore subtly invaded his senses, yet to him it was better than the sweetest frankincense.

"Idiot." Naru smiled and lightly rapped him on the head. "Didn't I tell you to call me Naru?"

"Sorry." Keitaro smiled back. "I notice you're not hitting me over the city anymore even if I keep forgetting to call you by your first name."

"Hmm?" His girlfriend smiled mischievously. "Do you miss it, you masochistic pervert?"

"Hahah, no, no, I think I can do without it." The two stood like that for a while, Naru leaning back against Keitaro's warm body while he gently held her in his arms.

"Naru?"

"Yeah?"

"Why have you been avoiding me all this time? And why have you been wearing that ugly hooded jacket this entire week?"

Had she not been in Keitaro's arms, Naru would have facefaulted. Instead, she decided to smack her boyfriend on the head. "Idiot! Why did you ruin the mood like that?!?"

Keitaro rubbed his head as Naru left his arms and glared at him. "I. . .it's just that . . .I thought you might have been mad at me or something. . ."

Naru's angry look faded. "Oh. I. . ." The girl looked down. "I'm not mad at you. It's just. . ."

"What?" Keitaro's voice betrayed his worry and concern. "Is there something wrong? Are you in trouble?" Keitaro's overactive imagination then began to take control. _'Oh no! Maybe she's gotten into trouble with the yakuza and has been using the jacket to hide her identity!'_

"No, I'm not in trouble." Naru smiled a bit at her boyfriends concern. "Um, it's, uh, it's just been really cold, that's all!"

Keitaro looked skeptically at her. "Even here in the dorms? Where we've had the heaters on really high all week?"

"Uh. . ."

"Please Naru, don't lie to me. Just tell me what's wrong. Don't you trust me?"

Naru looked aside, ashamed at her behavior. "I. . .all right."

She took off her jacket, revealing her now shortened hair. Aside from the hair framing the side of her face, Naru's hair had been cropped from their former length.

Keitaro gaped. Naru nervously began to explain.

"I. . .I needed the money to get you your present. There weren't any more part-time jobs around here, but Kitsune found me this ad about some research study in Mahora University. I thought they were just some weirdo pervs at first, but then I found out it was real! They were paying a lot for hair from women that were twenty to thirty years old, so I sold them my hair." _'Why won't he speak?' _Naru began to panic. _'Oh no, oh no, he must think I'm ugly. . .' _"Please Keitaro. Say something. Tell me 'Merry Christmas'. Anything. Just please don't look at me like that! My hair will grow back! You'll see!

There was a moment of silence before Keitaro finally spoke

"You. . ." Keitaro had a peculiar expression on his face as he began to talk. "You sold your hair?"

"Yes! I had to do it! I wouldn't have been able to get you your gift if I didn't! It's a really great gift!" Naru desperately explained.

"Your hair's been cut?" The male resident of Hinata-sou stated in a somewhat dazed and idiotic manner that might have justified all the times that he had been called a fool. Keitaro blinked several times, that strange look still on his face. "It's gone?"

Yes, I've sold it, it's gone!" Naru fell to her knees as tears began to flow from her eyes. "I'm still Naru. . .don't you still like me? I'm still the same girl. . ."

Hearing her words and tears seemed to snap Keitaro out of his daze. He quickly knelt down and wrapped his arms around her. "You silly, silly girl," Keitaro whispered right before he kissed her on the forehead, then on the lips. "Didn't I tell you I want to be with you forever? I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less." He wiped away her tears, then kissed her again.

"Keitaro!" Naru knocked Keitaro flat on his back as she began kissing him. The two stayed like that as snow began falling gently on their bodies. After a long, blissful while, the two finally parted their lips.

"Sorry." Keitaro's girlfriend whispered to him. "I'm sorry for doubting you."

"You're forgiven." Naru's boyfriend smiled as he helped her up and brushed the snow off of their clothes.

"You're too nice, you know that?"

"Are you complaining?"

"Of course not!" The young woman then remembered something. "Keitaro. . .why did you have that weird look on your face when you saw my hair? It wasn't that shocking, was it?"

"Well. . . I was shocked. . .but it wasn't just because of the hair. That hairstyle looked just as good on you as your long hair." He was pleased when his beloved's face brightened at the compliment. "Though I thought you really loved having long hair."

Naru blushed. "Yeah, but it was for your sake, so it really didn't matter."

It was Keitaro's turn to blush. "Oh. Th. . .thanks." He coughed, then moved on to his explanation. "Well, anyway, I was actually stunned because. . .well, here, take a look at your present and you'll see why."

Naru looked on curiously as Keitaro handed her an object hastily wrapped some Yuletide wrapping paper. She nimbly tore at the tape and paper, then gave a sudden scream of joy. Inside were three gorgeous combs and a hairpin. All of the items were made of gold lacquer with a tortoise shell base. The combs and pin were also decorated witha lovely sakura design.

"This was the comb set I wanted!" And now it was hers. However, Keitaro looked sadly at them.

"I'm sorry Narusegawa. I guess you won't be able to use them now. Boy, do I feel stupid."

Realizing now why Keitaro had been surprised, she hugged him and gave him a peck on the cheek, crying out happily, "Thank you! I love them. And don't worry so much! It's not your fault. Besides, my hair will grow back, you know!"

He laughed at that. "I suppose you're right."

"Oh!" Naru then remembered the reason she had called him up on the deck in the first place. "I have your present with me too!"

Naru then took out the gift, which was also wrapped in a haphazard manner. "Open it, open it!" She cried eagerly like a child, as she hoped her gift would make her boyfriend happy.

Keitaro chuckled at her enthusiasm as he tore into the present. He blinked once more at what he saw inside. There lay a beautiful gold chain, ready to be attached to a watch.

"See, see! It took me a long while to find it, but I was able to get you the same kind of chain for your pocket watch! So go ahead and put it on your watch! You carry it with you all the time now, right?" Naru then noticed the look on Keitaro's face. "What's wrong? Don't you like it?"

He responded with a kiss. "I love it. But maybe we should put our gifts away for a while."

"Eh? Why?"

"Well, you see. . ."

_(Flashback)_

_»So that's the situation.« Keitaro waited for his friend's answer. The fellow Keitaro was talking with on the phone was the same young man who had sent the commemorative gifts to him earlier in the year. The American college student had called to wish his old friend a Merry Christmas. Somehow, the conversation had turned to the dorm manager's current financial woes with regards to his present for a certain young woman._

_»Hmm.« Keitaro heard his friend pause for a moment. He suddenly raised cried out, remembering something. »Oh! Do you remember that watch I sent you as a present from this year?«_

_»You mean the old-fashioned one? Yeah, I remember. You sent that to me to commemorate the day we. .. « Keitaro paused as he realized what his old colleague was getting at. »Wait, you don't mean to tell me you want me to sell the watch?!?«_

_»Why not? It's worth a bit more than what you need for Narusegawa's present, after all, so it should cover your needs.«_

_»Why not?« His face took on an incredulous look as Keitaro repeated his friend's question. »Wouldn't you be offended if I just sold a gift that you gave me, especially since it's a commemoration gift?«_

_The young man laughed. »Not at all. Besides, I also sent you that framed picture of us at the dig, right? The frame's worth as much as the watch, you know. Anyway, like I told you in the letter I sent with the watch, it's yours to do as you wish.«_

_Keitaro looked doubtful He was quite reluctant to part with something that represented many happy memories of his time in the US. »Are you sure?« _

_»Yup!«_

_Still, Keitaro had one more excuse, though it wasn't one he wanted to reveal to his friend. »But I lost the chain!«_

_The Toudai student was confused as the American student began to chuckle quietly. The watch was a rare one and it would be hard (not to mention expensive) to find a replacement chain for the watch. »Um. . .not that I'm not relieved, but why aren't you mad about that? Isn't the pocket watch's chain expensive too?«_

_»Don't worry about it,« Keitaro guessed, quite correctly, that his friend had smiled as he said that. »It's not like the chain is all that important. Besides, even without the chain you can still pawn it off for a good amount of money. C'mon Keitaro, you know you really need this money. Unless you're thinking of getting your Narusegawa a different gift?«_

_The former ronin shook his head in the negative. »No. I can tell she really wanted that comb and pin set. I refuse to settle for anything less.« Keitaro sighed. »I guess you're right. I'd better sell the watch. But would you mind answering one question?«_

_»Sure.«_

_»Why are you so willing to let the watch be sold off?«_

_»Because what you're doing is soooooo romantic!!!«_

_Keitaro blinked at how his friend's voice came dangerously close to a squeal that could almost be described as. . .cute. Almost. _'Sometimes I wonder about that guy's sanity.' _»Uh. . .right. Well, um, thanks for the help.«_

_»Sure. Merry Christmas, Keitaro! Hope everything works out with you and your girlfriend!«_

_»Thanks. Merry Christmas to you too.« Keitaro put the phone down as his friend did the same on the other line._

_(End Flashback)_

"So. . .you sold your watch? For my present?"

"Eheheh. Yeah. Sorry, Naru."

Naru and Keitaro looked at each other. They slowly smiled, then began to chuckle. Soon, the young couple began to laugh out loud at how ridiculous their situation was.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"

As their laughter began to die down, the two once again looked at their gifts.

"We're pretty stupid, aren't we?" Keitaro stated, as he smiled at Naru.

She returned the smile. "Yeah."

The two once again hugged each other and remained that way for a moment. When he felt Naru beginning to shiver, he separated from her and said, "Let's go inside. Don't want to catch a cold, right?"

"Right." Naru took Keitaro's hand. "Merry Christmas, Keitaro."

"Merry Christmas, Naru."

And so Keitaro and Naru went inside, back to their friends who greeted these two wise, foolish lovers on this blessed Christmas Eve.

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Disclaimer: Love Hina and all of its characters are the property of Ken Akamatsu and whatever companies are making profit off of it. The short story "The Gift of the Magi" was written by William Sydney Porter, who is better known as O. Henry, whose stories are just freakin' awesome.

Author's Notes:

Hi everyone! Surprised to see me? Yeah, I'm not dead. I've finally finished with everything in college, so now I just have to wait for the graduation ceremony. Huzzah! So I can probably get back to working on A Little Bit of Magic. Anyway, as #cough#apatheticattemptat#cough# an apology/Christmas present, I wrote this fic for you guys. This poor attempt to adapt the classic Christmas story "The Gift of the Magi" into the Love Hina universe was inspired by seeing a picture of Naru with short hair in the Love Hina Infinity fan book (page 19 for you folks who are also fortunate enough to have it) and by reading "The Gift of the Magi" once again. O. Henry is one of my favorite authors, since the endings for his stories rock. Go read them. NOW!!!

I decided to put the disclaimer on the bottom to see if I could make the story a bit more surprising, especially for the readers who don't know anything about "The Gift of the Magi" (though there's a 99.9999999999999 percent chance that I failed in that). Well, in any case, you folks should read the original. It's a LOT better than this fic.

Those of you who are familiar with the story, you might be wondering why I didn't do it like the original and have Naru sell her hair to a wig shop? Eh, I wanted something weirder than that, so I decided to have Mahora (or at least a part of it) make a cameo. Besides, the way I figure it, considering the place's links to mages, a few of the resident spell casters in Mahora might make use of a young woman's hair. Heh, if that were true, I guess Naru would be justified in thinking something weird was going on there (though not the ecchi kind of weird).

"I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less" was taken directly from "The Gift of the Magi." I couldn't resist adding an actual line from the book. Part of the summary for this fic, the one which calls the story "The uneventful chronicle of two foolish children, the wisest of all who give gifts" was paraphrased from the end of "The Gift of the Magi." The final part of the fic where Naru and Keitaro are called "wise, foolish lovers" was also inspired by the last lines of the original story. If you'd like to know what the original lines were, please do read "The Gift of the Magi." It's a short story, so it won't take too long. Also, there were a few references to the actual gifts given by the Magi. You'll also notice the title of the story is basically another way of saying "The Gift of the Magi."

If you're curious, the American friend Keitaro was talking to could be Noel from my other fic "A Little Bit of Magic", so you can incorporate this one-shot into that series. Though if you don't want him to be, you can just imagine it's some other American. This story stands well enough by itself.

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I'd like to thank petran for putting up with me again and proofreading this fic. He also contributed an omake for the story explaining where some of the hair went to (with a few things I added in and revised; most of it is his though, so thank the man by reading some of his fics, if you liked it!).

This omake does have spoilers for Periods 76 and 77 of Negima, so skip it if you don't want to be spoiled!

-o-o-o-

OMAKE! OMAKE! OMAKE!  
by petran

"Hello and welcome to the special Christmas edition of 'How Low Would You Go', the game show that gives people ludicrous amount of money in exchange for their dignity. I am your host, Asakura Kazumi, and this is my assistant, the lovely Sasaki Makie."

"Pleased to meet you everyone!" She said, bowing slightly as the assembled crowd cheered. She sweatdropped and approached the hostess. Kazumi wisely turned her mike off.

"You know, I don't feel right about this."

"Hey, it was your idea to try those weird little 'jawbreakers' lying by the principal's desk. We don't know how long we're going to be like this, so we might as well make some money out of this."

"But still... I'm embarrassed!"

"Relax! They love you out there! Besides your embarrassment is nothing to what those poor guys are going to feel!"

She turned on the mike again and resumed speaking.

"Makie-chan! Will you please introduce our victi-I mean contestants!"

"Sure! Our first contestant is Sakata Kentaro! He is a Tokyo U student who has been tricked into playing here by a friend!"

It was Kazumi's turn to sweatdrop. _'Who the heck wrote these intro cards?'_

The young man whispered under his breath "I am going to kill Fujisawa for this! 'Meet me back-stage'... yeah, right!"

In the back-stage, a small figure with long blonde hair watched him. Beside her lay a small doll with a flamethrower.

"Can I kill him master! Can I? Can I?"

The figure with the long blond hair scoffed.

"Wait until he screws up." The girl's eyebrow twitched. "Why the hell am I even here?!?"

"Wasn't it because that brat gave you an early Christmas present and now you're obligated to buy him one so you decided to take that paparazzi girl's offer to make a lot of cash real quick by torturing some game show contestants who fail the challenges?" The doll smiled after her unnecessarily long sentence.

"Ugh. That's right. Well, at least we get to do something evil for a change."

"But what if that dopey-looking guy gets past all of the obstacles?"

"I don't know. Go jump him in the parking lot or something. There's my Christmas present for you."

"Thank you very much master! This is the best Christmas gift ever!"

"Yeah, yeah." The blonde-haired girl looked around before bending down to the doll and whispering, "Merry Christmas Chachazero."

"Merry Christmas Evangeline-sama!"

"Not so loud, dammit!"

Meanwhile, Makie had finished describing Kentaro and moved on to the next contestant.

"Our second contestant is Namba Saati! She refuses to talk about her past, but she DOES tell us that she is here to make some money to buy something for her boyfriend... How sweet!"

The audience cheered while the figure in the back-stage simply said "Pathetic."

"Finally, our third contestant is one Aoyama Motoko, who is the master of a famous dojo in Kyoto!"

_'For some reason this girl sounds familiar,'_ thought Motoko, while trying to focus on winning the game show.  
She suddenly felt a small hand tap her shoulder.

"Motoko-sensei! Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes, Setsuna-san. Our dojo is in badly need of repairs and I need to raise some capital somehow." She smiled at the younger Shinmeiryuu member. "Don't worry, everything's going to be fine."

The hostess approached the audience and spoke once more. "Thank you Makie! Now, in the first part of our show, in order to pass into the second round you will need to slingshot yourselves in the sky and grab a wig made out of real human hair from a flying turtle's head." _'I'm glad Hakase was able to contribute some hair from their research study!'_

Upon hearing what the challenge was, Motoko sweatdropped.

"Oh, hell no!"

OMAKE END

-o-o-o-

Omake Notes:

The person Kentaro is cursing is Fujisawa Mizuho from the Love Hina Dreamcast games. The "jawbreakers" are actually age-changing pills, which were introduced in Periods 76 and 77 of Negima. The "brat" Chachazero is referring to is none other than Negi Springfield. Also, Motoko's comment on Makie's voice being familiar is a joke referring to the fact that Makie's voice actress, Horie Yui, previously did Naru's voice in LH.

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The Author's Notes Strikes Back (or The Author's Notes Counterattack, whichever you prefer; heh heh, cool, two references!):

Thanks again for reading! Did you like this fic? Did you hate it? Do you think there are places where it could be improved? If so, please leave a review! No flames please, or you'll melt Frosty the Snowman! Constructive criticism is fine, though. Happy Holidays!


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